When Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympic blade runner who allegedly shot his girlfriend in the master bathroom of their house, decided to put his Pretoria home on the market for sale, realtors were apprehensive about marketing the property because they thought it had bad karma to it. But, agent Ansie Louw took up the challenge and managed to find a buyer for the residence.
Selling a house that has a tragic history to it - either a murder or suicide - can be a difficult task, but not impossible.
Curbed spoke to Dr. Randall Bell, a specialist in "damaged" real estate, who explained the dos and don'ts of selling properties with a certain kind of history to it.
Dr. Bell is a property appraiser who has assessed several major damaged sites like those affected by Hurricane Katrina, the World Trade Center and Flight 93 Crash Site, the Santa Fe residence where the Heaven's Gate Cult committed mass suicide and even the house where JonBenet Ramsey was murdered.
Bell's experience taught him to take a realistic approach of helping owners getting rid of these distressed properties. Bell asserts that it's important to be honest about the home's history and changing the address wouldn't help either.
Below are a few points he discussed with Curbed.
- Clean the distressed property thoroughly before you even consider showing it to potential buyers or renters
- Renovating the façade can make the situation a lot better
- Renting for a few years before selling is a better idea
- Be prepared to take a loss when selling
An earlier feature by USA Today noted that incidents like suicides and homicides take a toll on the reputation of the home. A recent survey by Trulia found 59 percent of its respondents saying they would never live in a former crime scene.
Experts call it psychological damage but also add that the memory of a death or tragedy fades with time and so does the reputation of the home. The USA Today feature cited a prior Realtor.com survey that showed that 62 percent of the respondents would buy or have no problem buying a "haunted" home.
Take for instance, the famous haunted "Hiram Scutt Mansion" in Joliet, Ill., which sold just within a week of listing. Agent Maria Cronin got calls from several parts of the country inquiring about the house and also received offers after its listing went viral on the internet. There were about 70 open houses held just in a week and many paranormal investigators came to visit the house to experience it.
There is a lot of ambiguity surrounding the fact that people would or wouldn't buy or rent a home with a stigmatized past, but if priced right and promised an honest deal, even a murder house or a former crack house - meth lab would sell eventually.
